Stranger Things Season 4 Reportedly Filming Later This Year, So Where's The Renewal?

Nancy Mike Dustin Stranger Things Season 3 finale Netflix

Any day now, Netflix should make the inevitable official: Stranger Things is coming back for Season 4. Netflix can be cutthroat about cancelling shows after a third season, but even without an official renewal yet, no one should be worried about Stranger Things. Not only is the record-breaking show returning, it's rumored to already have some dates put aside for filming.

Netflix is reportedly looking at October 2019 to start filming Stranger Things Season 4.

That's the word from Production Weekly (via Bloody Disgusting), which is usually a reliable source. Plus, a late fall/early winter shoot could fit perfectly with a Stranger Things Season 4 storyline.

If you've seen Stranger Things Season 3, you know the ending showed the Byers family -- plus Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) -- finally moving away from the ridiculously ill-fated Hawkins, Indiana. El and Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard) had a conversation about when they would next see each other:

El: Did you talk to your Mom about Thanksgiving?Mike: Yeah, yeah yeah. I got the OK. I'll be there. And then I was thinking maybe you could come up here for Christmas, and Will too. You could come before or after Christmas or whatever Mrs. Byers wants. But I was thinking Christmas day could be super fun because we'll all have new presents to play with.

Based on that conversation, it sounds like Mike plans to visit the Byers family in their new home for Thanksgiving, with El and Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) coming back to Hawkins for Christmas.

If that's the case, I could see a fall shoot working for that storyline. We previously speculated that Stranger Things could be setting up a Christmas special, separate from Season 4, which is still possible. But a fall-set Season 4 could also be a fitting bookend for the series, circling back to the November 1983 start for Stranger Things Season 1. Remember Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) and her Christmas lights? Please say we get more of that.

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If the timeline comes full circle, would that be a hint to Stranger Things ending with Season 4? There's been back-and-forth about when the show would end, with potential for things to continue into Season 5. Matt and Ross Duffer had told Vulture in 2017 that they planned for four seasons.

Finn Wolfhard recently said he thought Stranger Things only needed either one or maybe two more seasons to tie it all up. David Harbour (Chief Hopper) talked about Stranger Things having an arc to it that he understands -- be it Season 4 or Season 5 for the ending -- adding "we're not going to get lost in our story and leave these strands, we're going to tie things up."

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Stay tuned for Netflix's official updates on Stranger Things Season 4. A renewal announcement should be followed by some kind of hint on when it would premiere. Then cross your fingers for anything else that we might be getting -- like a Christmas special or a Season 5. These kids are growing up fast, so they gotta get a move on!

Gina Carbone

Gina grew up in Massachusetts and California in her own version of The Parent Trap. She went to three different middle schools, four high schools, and three universities -- including half a year in Perth, Western Australia. She currently lives in a small town in Maine, the kind Stephen King regularly sets terrible things in, so this may be the last you hear from her.